>> we just saw a throng of reporters rush across the street from the federal courthouse in boston. who knows what they believe happened? we have no idea at this hour, but we do know that the f.b.i. has just told us they will brief the public in two hours. 5:00 p.m. eastern. we'll have it for you right here. here is studio b with bill hemmer live from boston subbing for shepard smith. >> thank you. i'm bill hemmer in for shepard smith. welcome to studio b. break developments now in the terrorist attack. boston police, 30 minutes ago denying earlier reports that they have made an arrest. you can still see a large crowd outside the courthouse after early reports suggested that somebody was in custody. that's about a mile from our

location, a mile east of where we are in boston's back bay. sources telling fox news -- and this is critical -- security video shows a, quote, young man carrying perhaps -- and perhaps dropping a black bag near the site of the second blast, a bag that may have caped a deadly bomb. we do not yet know if he is a suspect. we do not yet know if they've identified this person. today we saw crews coming through that site, combing through the site at 755 boylston street a quarter mile behind us here. rick leventhal with me now in boston. let me repeat the tweet that boston police sent out 30 minutes ago. despite reports to the contrary, there has not been arrest in the marathon attack. we're going to work through all this stuff. we'll take our time. we're going to get it right. but at the moment, what we are reporting is the news that crossed at 1:30 this afternoon. it may very well be that police have an image of a suspect that

they want to talk, to but we can not say whether or not they've identified the person or whether or not that person has been taken into custody. >> there has been a startling series of events today, bill. and unfortunately, some of those event may have played out the wrong way. we've had a lot of reports that an arrest has been made and apparently at least according to the f.b.i., no arrest has yet been made. we've had a lot of reports that there may be images, very clear images of a young man putting down a black bag in the spot where one of those two bombs went off on monday afternoon. we haven't heard that wet from -- yet from the f.b.i. that they have that image, but we've heard that from multiple sources. they may be very close to identifying a suspect. they may have already identified a suspect. they may be about to make an arrest. they may have already made an arrest. but officially, according to the f.b.i. that just leased this statement, because of all the misreporting, contrary to widespread reporting there, have been no arrests made. over the past day and a half there, have been a number of press reports based on

information from unofficial sources that has been inaccurate, since they have unintended consequences, we ask the media to exercise caution and attempt to verify information through appropriate official channels before reporting. there is a 5:00 p.m. briefing scheduled with the fin and the other agency -- f.b.i. and the other agencies handling this case. at that time i'm sure many of these questions will be answered. but what we don't know right now is where they do stand in this investigation. bill, remember, there are 30 agencies involved in this investigation, more than 1,000 officers. and law enforcement officials. many of these people have contacts in the media. we don't know who is saying what to whom. what we do know is that apparently these reports that an arrest had been made are not correct. >> i thought the point that steve emmerson made was well taken. there are multiple agencies working this story. who knows in which silo the information may have been held. it may account for the misunderstanding that we've been

watching. >> i want to say, i spoke with one of my sources today who could not confirm an arrest had been made, but did confirm some of the images they've been looking at. they've thank is key 'cause they've been asking the public and the press to share images and video of the scene because on those images, undoubtably the bomber can be seen. we have heard there may be surveillance camera foot edge and local television news footage of the bomber in the crowd that may have been verified by linking up the two source. they're continuing to ask for photographs. they were at the airport at logan stopping people getting on planes and asking if they had photos and images to share before they left town. they continue to do that, try to collect every image they can and scour it for suspects. today we heard they had identified a suspect. they had possibly arrested a suspect. right now the f.b.i. saying that's not the case. at least the arrest has not happened. >> two hours ago a gentleman who works in the building down the street stopped by our live location and he showed me images that he printed out in high

resolution that were taken with his wife's camera. long lens, across the street, 20 minutes before the bombing. it is remarkable on the printout image in the digital camera how many faces you can actually make out and how close and how much you can blow up that picture. and that is why i think about what the f.b.i. said yesterday at 5:00 o'clock in the afternoon. they've gotten such a tremendous amount of information from the public when itless could the images and the video and extra f.b.i. teams have flown into boston to look at those. >> many of the images are in quantico, virginia. they have facial recognition technology. they're examining all the evidence they've collected so far, including pieces of the bomb. we saw pictures yesterday, which have now been distributed widely today of those bomb piece, including the pressure cooker. some of the ball bearings that were included in that bomb. and the shredded black backpack that carried one of the bombs. we've seen those images. the f.b.i. is analyzing those images and with them, they may

be able to link that bag to someone in the crowd carrying that bag and put the bag down and walked away. >> thank you. i want to you stand down for the next hour as we move on. the point you make about the f.b.i. and a 5:00 o'clock briefing. these next two hours are critical and certainly that briefing at 5:00 o'clock will be a major source of information, not just for us, but everybody watching this story and waiting for the latest news. former f.b.i. bomb technician danny defenbaugh is with me. he helped lead the investigation after the oklahoma city bombing in april of 1995. the anniversary, unfortunately, coming up on friday of this week. hello to you. we're going to put some images of some of the photographs that were released late last night and again today. you have seen these. what do we need to understand about what has been made public so far in these photographs? >> i have not been -- in overhearing all this, i can personally testify to the fact

that there is a real problem with law enforcement leaks where in the oklahoma city bombing investigation, we had for a total of nine weeks the office of professional responsibility who were actually investigating us for who may be leaking certain information, some of which was totally erroneous. so i can certainly appreciate what law enforcement is going through up there right now with that or erroneous information, particularly if they do have photographs of the subject, the last thing that they would want to do right now is have that advertised ahead of time until they have had their chance to be able to identify that individual. >> and they don't want to make that image public because they don't want to tip that person off. when you twitter and facebook and so many different sources, that really fly around the ether at a level and a speed

incomprehensive, people take this information and run with it. >> i think at this point it's important to be cautious. i know you wanted to finish your point. go ahead, danny. >> i think that not only for the subject himself, but also if there are other conspirators who are involved, the last thing you want to do is let them know that they're about to be tagged and having certain evidence being lost or destroyed because of the leak. >> tim mcveigh was driving with a bad license plate on the open roads of oklahoma, on the same day that he detonated that bomb right before 9:00 o'clock in the morning. were you set back in your investigation because of leaks that went out at a time that was not appropriate? >> very much so, particularly after the initial indictment of mcveigh when there were critical negotiations with michael fortier with regard to

he and his wife, who were intimately involved in some of the conspiracy with very specific knowledge and certain leaks were devonly damaging -- definitely damaging as far as any negotiations with those other subjects. >> danny, thank you. danny defenbaugh, live with us today, drawing on his experience from 1995, april of that year. thank you. i want to go to mike tobin. he has breaking news. i believe you're at the courthouse in downtown boston. >> there is something here. what we're seeing is the d.hs police cam out with a great sense of urgency and pushed all of the crowd off to the other side of the street, at the same time hustling the employees out of the courthouse itself. they came out really with a good clip to their walk. i'm looking at one, two, three, four, five, six fully armed u.s.

marshals with vests and helmets, each of them, i believe, has an additional side arm. i saw a van speed past with -- looks like a marshal hanging off of the side. a good clip of speed and they're going down that small alleyway on the southwest side of the building. backing up now into what looks like the alley port. you hear some of the commotion. the dhs police backing everybody away from the courthouse right now. i don't have a whole lot of details other than it's some kind of scare has forced all the employees out of the courthouse. >> understood. mike, i know you don't know, but we have an aerial picture that's zooming in around the street around the courthouse. several white cars, perhaps they belong to the police or the courthouse itself. but across the street, there were a lot of people on that street. is that media, is that the public or mix of both? >> mostly media. a little bit of public. it really speaks to the level of

anxiety, partially amongst the people of boston, but certainly amongst the media. the people are reacting to every tip, flooding here, a good bit of adrenaline in this bunch. >> can you identify those vehicles we're looking at? from the top they all appear to be white. >> the white vehicles look like they're homeland security police vehicles. you see a lot of the black vehicles. you see a lot of black vehicles, and those could either be a federal marshal. the van speeding by appear to me to be federal marshals. i see bomb sniffing dogs on the property right now checking out the area. so that could be an indicator of what kind of scare came in to the courthouse. a lot of tension. the police are pushing us off the property right now, pushing everybody back as far as they can get us. >> got it. thank you, mike, live on scene in downtown boston. in a moment, a lot more ahead as

we sort through the details in this boston investigation. also some of the images we picked up on over the past 12 hours. we will give you all the latest information as we get it here. in addition, our other big breaking news story today comes out of washington. a letter to president obama tests positive for the deadly poison known as risin. the news from the white house and from capitol hill as it breaks here today on studio b [ male announcer ] straight from red lobster's chefs

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>> bill: breaking news here on "studio b." can report at the moment. there is an image that apparently authorities have identified as a person they would like to talk to described as a young man, said to be dropping off some sort of bag near the scene of the second explosion on monday afternoon, 2:50 p.m. local time. this person has not been arrested. but apparently an image has been identified. will that be made public today at the 5:00 o'clock briefing by the f.b.i.?

that's something frankly, that we and the rest of the country and the world, for that matter, is waiting to hear. the other bit of news that's breaking right now is that u.s. district courthouse in downtown boston, there has been some sort of scare. that's chased a number of employees out of that building. this is a scene that exploded with activity, pardon the expression there -- about two hours ago when there were rumors rampant and some reports that arrests have been made. that's not true. still that has not prevented the media and the public from gathering around the courthouse. we showed you the aerial pictures a little wider in a moment. you can see the crowd that gathered. this courthouse is infamous when it comes to the war on terror. it was december of 2001 when the shoe bomber, richard reid, was taken off an american airlines plane here in boston and taken directly to that u.s. courthouse. we're going to get back to mike tobin as we get developments on what's happening about a mile from our location here in

boston's back bay. a fox news legal analyst has been in and out of numerous courtrooms throughout his professional career. he's with me now. here to explain perhaps a little bit as to why the confusion could unfold the way it did. arthur, i think the best way that i can understand it now is what steve emmerson told megyn last hour, you have multiple agencies working this story. who knows what one group rather might have versus another group and perhaps that's why you get the reporting that we saw here. how would you explain it based on your legal knowledge about how courthouses work and also on the law enforcement side? >> sure. handling high profile cases, this is very valuable information, obviously, to the media. and the police departments, every police department and the media, they have an interactive relationship and they each kind of work hand in hand and want to help each other. someone clearly jumped the gun, bill. whether it was a misinterpretation, whether it

was just wrong, i don't think anyone maliciously gave out bad advice, but they want to give the media something and in their individual relationship, look, i was in the control room during megyn's show. i saw what it said. it's been confirmed by two law enforcement sources, there has been an arrest. there are very conflicting reports. but i was able to tell you by what was going on around the courthouse that that was not typical behavior of an arrest being made. there were no cars -- law enforcement kind of vehicles around the courthouse, number within. number two, bill, as you know, it's not like there is an arrest made and you get to the courthouse in 15 minutes. there is an arrest made and in this case, whenever there is an arrest that will be made, there will have to be a big decision being made. is this person going to be classified as an enemy combatant, an american citizen who is an enemy combatant, a nonamerican citizen that's an enemy combatant?

is the president of the united states going to make that decision? is the commander of the chief joint of staff -- i forget who it is, someone in the military is allowed to make that decision as well as, as well as the u.s. attorney's office. there is a tremendous difference on how someone is treated. >> bill: indeed there is. >> if they're just an american citizen or if they're considered enemy combatant, about miranda warnings, about habeas corpus, how fast do we have to release him or how fast do we have to put them in front of a judge or how long can we keep them and question them? >> bill: these are all great points. let me slow you down just a moment here. >> sure. sorry. >> bill: if you want -- if you want to go out and make an arrest, perhaps you have your eye on someone and you got a street address, apartment number. but maybe there is more than one person. maybe there is two or three. and there is a real danger in putting out public information. if you could be showing your hand and tipping off others that could be people that you want to

talk to. that's the category and area that could be very dangerous. >> another possibility here is that the boston police department jumped the gun. the f.b.i., my understanding, is in control of the situation, and believe me, there is a real higher arcky throughout the country when the feds come in, they come in and they take over and they're the chain of command, they're at the top. if someone, some lower police officer blew -- said something that they shouldn't have and bill, just what you said is going on, they're looking for someone else, this is a crucial, critical point in the investigation and they're jeopardizing in some fashion, they could compel the boston police department to give up to produce the tweet they did, backing off their original statements. >> bill: okay. thank you. arthur back in new york. i want to take you back to the white house. we saw a hook and ladder. it looked like to me from the aerial view there. a large fire truck pulling up to the side of the courthouse. whether or not it was there to

take care of a matter, we don't know. we know there was some sort of scare happening inside that building that has sent a number of employees who work in the district courthouse to flee outdoors. we're going to bring that to you in a moment with more information from mike tobin. rick leventhal talking to his sources. we'll bring back rick in a moment. there was another significant story that takes place outside of boston. that is in washington, d.c these letters with risin, which is a poison, sent to u.s. senators and the president of the united states. this did not reach the white house. but rather at a mail facility that's associated and connected with the white house. we're working to that story as well and take you thrive washington as this breaking news continues on this edition of "studio b" on a very busy wednesday afternoon in boston (announcer) scottrade knows our clients trade

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>> bill: breaking news now, high above the u.s. courthouse in downtown boston, this is what we know. mike levin, f.b.i. telling us that unrelated bomb threat inside the courthouse in boston, no arrests have been made. nobody being brought to court, thinking it is just a prank. that news just breaking here on "studio b." in the meantime, we want to move away from boston and to the biological weapons scare in our nation's capitol. the f.b.i. and the secret service now investigating several suspicious letters that have preliminarily tested positive for the deadly poison known as risin. one was addressed to the president, at least one more addressed to a law maker on capitol hill. risin is a toxin made from castro bean. it's highly refined powder form that can cause severe illness or death if inhaled. there is no antidote for it.

luckily risin poisoning is very rare, regardless, washington dv very much on edge, along with the rest of the country. here is what we know about this story. censors at the government's mail sorting center detecting risin in envelopes that someby sent to the president, as well as the mississippi republican senator roger wicker. today the white house press secretary jay carney asked about this, said investigators are now conducting more advanced testing on the content of these letters. here is carney. >> the f.b.i. has a lead for determine building a suspicious powder is a dangerous substance, such as risin. those take place at accredited facilities and they take a certain amount of time as the f.b.i. has indicated. these procedures are in place. the procedures are effective and in operation now and we are in the midst of that process which the f.b.i. is undertaking at this time. >> bill: what we do know, both letters said to be postmarked in

memphis, tennessee. mike emmanuel is live on capitol hill for a very busy day. what more do we know about the letters there, mike? >> bill, fox news has obtained an f.b.i. operations bull finish that ties these two letters together. it says it was determined they were related based on their u.s. government targets, the postmarks and identical language in them. both mailed on the same day, april 8. and both letters signed, quote, i am kc and i approve this message. today on capitol hill, the post master general talked about lessons learned from tainted mail scares 12 years ago. >> what we learned back then was the importance of having protocols in place where anything happens, we react. over the course of years, we've had some situations where there have been risin scares. until this date, there has never been any prove that had have gone through the system. >> law enforcement sources tell us they do have a person of interest, somebody who is known to be a frequent letter writer

to officials here in washington, bill. >> bill: the anxiety is spreading far from capitol hill. where is this story going, mike? >> that's right, bill. texas senator john cornyn's staff is the latest to say they've called police to their office in dallas to check out a piece of mail. earlier in phoenix, arizona, republican senator jeff flake's office created quite a stir. it said it received two packages that were believed to be having a suspicious substance leaking out. >> we have been called by the staff that works here that these envelopes appear suspicious. it may very well turn out there is nothing, but because of the events across the nation the last several days, we take it very seriously and that's why we responded with the resources we have, both our federal as well as our local authorities. >> i've talked to a variety of staffers here on capitol hill. they say they are taking extra precautions because that's what they've been told to do.

so perhaps some of these incidents of mail may not be elevated on other days, but this is a very different day and nobody here is taking these things for granted. bill? >> bill: thank you, mike. mike emmanuel from the hill. i want to bring in david katz, the founder and ceo of global security group and a former instructor of the f.b.i. academy and former special agent with the dea. thank you for your time today. the only comparison i think many of us have when it comes to stuffing some sort of poison in a letter is with the anthrax scare of 2001. >> right. >> can you compare the two? in other words, if somebody was stuffing risin in an envelope, how lethal or dangerous could that be for the person who is trying to carry this out? much like the anthrax was dangerous to that person. >> risin is an incredibly deadly poison. it's 6,000 times more deadly than cyanide. if you go to hyperbole, the

amount you can fit in a pack of sugar can kill 10,000 people. it's much easier to make from a simple waste mass. when they make castor oil, for example, the residue can be refined into risin. it's much easier to manufacture than anthrax, which is relatively difficult. >> bill: why is that? >> it's a matter of the ability to refine and weaponnize anthrax, which also occurs naturally. it is rarely limited to people in the military or those countries that are able to weaponnize biological -- when they manufacture biological weapons. risin is considered a biological weapon along with bacteria and viruses. so it's a very, very deadly poison. it's easy to make and can be delivered either if you ingest it, if you inhale it, if you manage to get it injected into your body like what happened to georgey markle in london in 1978, it will kill you. it's extremely deadly.

they are working on antidotes, but i don't believe they've been successful to this point. >> bill: how would you trace risin? how would an investigation be carried out, david? >> what they always do with letters, they'll go back to the postmark, look for commonnallities between the two letters. they apparently have a person of interest. if they get enough information to support a search warrant, they'll go back into the residents and look for actual traces of risin or the ingredients to make it. >> bill: david, thank you. david katz sorting through that story for us today on the risin scare that's ongoing in washington, d.c again, the test came back positive. we'll see whether in the end this can be a false positive. times you get initial hit in and a test and it comes out one way. but later the information is reversed. we'll see how this story develops. back here live in boston, we are 90 minutes away from an f.b.i. briefing that will take place with a -- for the first time

today. we had two yesterday. they were great sources of information. especially on what has been a remember confusing afternoon on the latest on the boston bombings. we will have that live for you as our coverage continues on "studio b" [ male announcer ] it's simple physics...

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analyzing and determining all the components for the deadly bombs and we can report there is at least one image that has been captured by police and the f.b.i. of a man who was apparently dropping off a black bag right near the side of the second explosion around 2:50 in the afternoon on monday. a person that they want to talk to, described as a young man. catherine herridge is live in washington with me now. let's first talk about the analysis of the evidence because that is where the heart of the story has gone to over the past 24 hours and the forensics. what have you learned? >> that's right. the f.b.i. is not talking publicly, fox news are told bomb components are being analyzed for dna fibers and to learn more about the bomb parts. fox news has also told the circuit board was recovered and other components are relatively intact, which bodes well fort investigation. this bulletin obtained from homeland security and the f.b.i. confirms one bomb was a pressure

cooker with shrapnel, including nails, bb's and ball bearings. the second device is so badly fragmented, it is simply described as a metal container. it's too badly damage to do have positive confirmation. in both cases the type of low explosive and mode of detonation are still being determined. the battery is identified with the types of items that you would typically see in a retail department store as found in toys, a controlled cars, trucks. and the maker has told us that they make about 10,000 of these batteries every year. tens of thousands of these batteries. so that may not be a good investigative threat at this point, bill. >> bill: that's interesting. what are we learning possibly about where the bomb may have been made? do we have much on that now? >> fox news is told by an investigative source is using a low explosive was like hee assembled close to the blast side. the "wall street journal" is reporting that the f.b.i. and boston police are canvassing

hotels and short-term rentals in the area. >> it appears again, if what they know now is accurate that this bomb was unstable, this device was very unstable and that it could not have been transferred a great distance at all. >> as to the issue of a suspect, earlier congressional sources told fox news that during a briefing by the national counterterrorism center or nctc, that's the group set up after 9-11 to monitor and analyze threats and to break down the barriers between agency, they told people on the hill that the video and images they had received prior to the attack were providing very useful intelligence, bill. >> bill: wow. interesting, thank you. catherine herridge on that and perhaps much more on what geraldo rivera reporting reflected in the f.b.i. briefing that's an hour and 20 minutes away. 5:00 o'clock eastern time. with me now out of washington, special report anchor, bret baier. i thought it was remarkable the amount of caution that jay

carney stuck with today around the 12:00 o'clock hour. he referred a lot of these questions directly to the f.b.i what struck you? >> sure, there is a lot of caution because there are not a lot of answers. we saw what happened today earlier from sourcing there out of boston. the pushback really came from washington here, the department of justice and up on capitol hill sourcing that we had that said right away that they were getting that no arrest was made. what we're hearing is that they do feel like they're getting a lot of information and you mentioned this person that they're looking at and we will likely hear a lot about in the 5:00 o'clock hour. i think that briefing by the f.b.i. at 5:00 p.m. eastern time, you can see right here on fox news channel, will be fascinating. we will find out as we have in each one of these f.b.i.

briefings, each one of these briefings from the beginning of this incident, all of the facts and we will likely see these pictures or picture of this man that they're either looking for or believe they have identified. and i think that that will illuminate this case far more than anything we've been talking about over the past couple of hours. >> bill: could very well be. several months ago in newtown, connecticut, the thing learned there, is if it didn't come from the police mouth, several days later or weeks later or several months later, a lot of that report -- those reports did not prove to be true. you get all this information and you know it from your time at the white house and the pentagon, too, and it's flying around so fast, it's hard to keep up with it. >> sure. >> bill: and unfortunately for viewers, sometimes they're robbed of the experience because information goes out there that

they believe to be true when in fact it is not. that is why, just to stress the point that you make, that the f.b.i. briefing at 5:00 o'clock is essential to this story at the moment. >> it's the information life line. it is the way that you get the facts as they know them. yes, are we working to get information behind the scenes every minute, every hour? yes. are we talking to officials off camera? of course. but really, those on camera briefings, that's the way that we get the information as well. >> bill: indeed. quickly on the risin investigation, what did you pick up today on that story? how much more is there to learn? where is that going? >> well, had it not been for the boston bombings, this would be a huge, huge story because risin, as you were talking about with your previous guest, is an incredibly dangerous poison and you have a letter sent to the president and a letter sent to a republican senator.

you have other letters that have been cleared, but you have a capitol hill that is on edge now and we are back to the anthrax days where letters are going to be scrutinized much more than they were before. there already is a process, but they are looking now for a suspect behind this as well. they don't believe that the two are linked, however. >> bill: to be clear, the mail receiving room for the white house is not at the white house. >> not near the capitol either. >> bill: okay. is it quite a distance away? >> it is. >> bill: that was the process put into place after the anthrax scare of 2001, the fall that year, right? >> the white house always had an offsite facility for all mail. the capitol instituted the offsite facility in maryland after the anthrax scare in 2001. >> bill: all right. clarification noted. thank you. we'll see you at 6:00 o'clock eastern time tonight on "special

report." thank you. bret baier there in washington. quick break here. there are many developments throughout the day, many that we have yet to give time to on this program. when we come back, the hard evidence that these investigators are going through. we'll show you the images they're working from now in a moment. back in three minutes here on "studio b" live in boston ♪ [ female announcer ] from more efficient payments. ♪

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>> bill: back here live in boston. breaking news at the u.s. courthouse. we can now report again that apparently there was some sort of prank at the courthouse despite the fact that numerous employees had been told to clear out, said to be a false alarm. we have our crew over there, mike tobin is working that story and we'll get back to the courthouse in a moment. in the meantime here in boston's back bay along boylston street, the former f.b.i. deputy assistant director, danny colson is -- with me. i really appreciate the time you're spending with us because there has been a ping-pong of

activity. some reports that apparently are true and some that are not over the past several hours. what is the danger from an investigative standpoint about a report going public that is later pulled back? >> well, oftentimes when you're at this stage of the investigation, you may have one person you're dealing with who may become cooperative and he's going to help you get o other subjects, or a lot of different scenarios that you want to keep this thing under wraps. you may be trying to convince this guy to cooperate. you don't want to take him to an arraignment. he may have waive that had for period of time. so when false information goes out and there are other co-conspirators or co- actors, this gives them a chance to get out of dodge, to get away. so it's probably overcomable, but basically investigators need to let the proper people talk to the media. i know it's your job to find out what happened and sometimes it's my job to see that you tonight until the proper time. so it's kind of a two edged

sword. we understand our job and we understand your job and sometimes these things can be harmful to the investigation and to the interest of justice as well. >> bill: understood. the point you're making is that there could possibly be a danger when information goes out at a time when do you not want it to go out there. i was just thinking about your answer there and my conversation with rudy guiliani earlier today. on "america's newsroom," what he described is a situation where he is okay with authorities holding back their cards and not giving over information because it's an active investigation. if you put anything out there that may tip someone off that you're lacking for, that can be a real problem. >> this is your business and it's an important business. it helps the security of our country and our liberty to have a free press. but sometimes us as citizens and you in the media don't need to know that until the proper time 'cause we have a very dangerous situation here and there is nothing to say that this bomber won't do it again. we need to catch him.

there has to be a good friendship and a working relationship which most news outlets have and in this case, it sounds like somebody wanted to go to a source and give him a scoop and that scoop may have hurt us. >> bill: yeah. there has been photographic evidence we've been showing of some of the bomb making components. these are critical. the forensic level of this investigation. what strikes me, though, is that the list of material that's been confirmed, you could pick that up in five minutes at the hardware store, anywhere in america, much less boston. >> you can. >> bill: the question becomes this: if the items are this common, how much more complicated does that make the investigation? >> makes it harder, but it doesn't make it impossible because the thing that's going to be uncommon is that these implements will have residue on them and that residue is going to be traced back to some sort of a chemical bomb and when you start to prove your case, if you

can show that this individual may have purchased these, i've had a pressure cooker in my family for years and i think we only had one. so if he bought two, that's evidentiary. if he purchased any, that's evidentiary. if he purchased nails and we find nails, that's all evidentiary. but the case will be solved initially by the video, but proven by the forensics of the bomb. >> bill: okay. danny, thank you. really appreciate your time and expertise. >> thank you. >> bill: danny colson, thank you. a lot of conflicting information out there and a lot of people scared, frankly. in a moment, we'll put the attacks here in boston in context. for example, did you know the united states experienced more terrorist attacks in the 1990s than in the last decade we just went through? that information and a lot more live in boston as our coverage continues most people think that after an accident,

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>> bill: live back here in boston, we want to share with you what we're learning from the white house. the president has an event this hour that had been scheduled previously, still ongoing, with a group of wounded warriors on the south lawn of the white house. we do not know whether or not he will speak about the events in boston or the risin scare in washington. but we're monitoring that and will bring you yucutan peninsula dates as we get them. the bombings in boston stirring up a loft unpleasant memories for all americans who have watched the after effects of terrorist attacks, anyone who survived one of those here in the u.s. they think about 9-11 in new york, oklahoma city, and oklahoma, or any other attack in the past. it's important to realize and

many of us may not know that, but the number of global attacks are way down when you compare it to 30 or 40 years ago. the fox report's jonathan hunt is here with more on that. we hear about the threats all the time. but the facts show that we are more safe than before. explain that. >> yeah. the worst attack we've gone through since 9-11 was actually the fort hood shooting in 2009, 13 people killed there. boston stands out because it is, in fact, among the highest casualties with three dead and 176 wounded in that attack. other than that, 9-11, of course, then you have the 1993 world trade center attack, the 1995 oklahoma city bombing. but other than that, as i said, relatively safe. much better than the 1970s, for instance, when there were far more global terrorist attacks. experts say part of the reason is because law enforcement, very simply in cities like new york city, have become much better

since 9-11 at stopping these things. listen. >> since 9-11, new york has been the target of 17 plots and only one of them you could say really succeeded and the suspect made it to times square. but the others didn't work because of a lot of good intelligence, lot of good cooperation between state, local and federal. lot of resources put in to the intelligence units. >> bill, boston proved that old law enforcement adage, that law enforcement has to be right every time, those who wish to do us harm only have to did he tell it right once. bill. >> bill: what a lesson we have learned throughout all this. thank you. see you tonight on "fox report." in a moment, 63 minutes away from the f.b.i. briefing here in boston. we will have that and more when we continue after this zap technology.

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